


Poisoned Pen

by sparkyCSI (Lexi_the_dragon_muse)



Category: CSI: NY
Genre: F/M, Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-05-10
Updated: 2013-05-09
Packaged: 2017-12-10 23:11:29
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 7
Words: 14,393
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/791271
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Lexi_the_dragon_muse/pseuds/sparkyCSI
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>A brutal murder, a bloody feud. Can the crime lab find a killer before another body shows up? Please read and review!</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. The Sweet Smell of Death

**Author's Note:**

> Disclaimer: I am not Anthony Zuiker. I do not own the characters of CSI: NY. I do own anyone you don’t recognize including victims, bad guys and random characters, so don’t steal them! I will put the characters back where I found them, unharmed.
> 
> AN: Okay guys. This just came to me after reading some of the more ridiculous stories that I have read. I am not basing this on any writers, but it is just against bad writing in general! Hopefully this won’t be a long story, but I may not update very often. Just warning you! Many thanks to both Aphina and Axellia for looking this over for me!

** Poisoned Pen © SparkyCSI **

 

** Chapter 1.  The Sweet Smell of Death **

 

Danny Messer and Lindsay Monroe walked up to the crime scene tape to the sight of a uniformed officer bent over vomiting.  Lindsay looked at Danny with her eyebrows raised.  “Either he’s a newbie or this scene must be gruesome,” she stated calmly.

 

Danny returned her look with his trademark smirk.  “I got $20 on he’s a newbie,” he shot back with a grin.

 

Lindsay winked.  “You’re on Messer,” she said with a grin.

 

At that moment, they saw Flack walk out of the building, with a handkerchief around the lower part of his face, his complexion slightly tinged green.  Lindsay shot a look over her shoulder to Danny.  “I win,” she smirked.

 

Danny just studied Flack, who shook his head in horror.

 

Quickly they stepped under the crime scene tape and walked towards the open door.  Once there, Danny gallantly let Lindsay proceed in front of him.  Taking a breath, Lindsay walked into the small apartment and stood in shock.  “Oh my God,” she murmured under her breath as she surveyed the blood splattered over all four walls. 

 

In the center of the room lay a partially charred body.  Upon closer inspection, she noticed that the body looked like it had been cut numerous times before being set on fire.  Ignoring the rolling in her gut as the unmistakable sweet smell of burned human flesh assaulted her, she walked over to her boss, Mac Taylor, who was already snapping pictures.

 

Mac looked up and saw the stunned expression over both of his CSI’s faces.  “Not a pretty sight,” he stated in a matter of fact manner.  “Body appears to be female, but the burns are too extensive for a visual ID.  Sid will have to get us some DNA.  Danny, I want you to process all of the trace around the body.  Whoever did this was cunning.  Nothing else in the apartment is burned, save a small area around the body.”  He turned to Lindsay.  “Lindsay, go through the bedroom, see if you can find some identification there.”

 

Both Danny and Lindsay nodded and quickly went to work.  An hour later, Sid had taken the body back to the morgue for an autopsy and Danny had finished taking the trace around the body.  He was now taking fingerprints off of every available surface.

 

In the bedroom, Lindsay had found a purse with a driver’s license in it and studied the picture carefully.  _She is so young,_ she thought as she looked at the brunette in the picture.  Checking her date of birth, Lindsay realized that if she was in fact the dead body, she had just hit her twenty-second birthday.  Shaking her head, she bagged the evidence and turned to the laptop which was sitting on the bed.

 

Carefully, she opened the computer up, but it seemed to be password protected, so she bagged it to see if Adam could help her out.  She studied the bedroom carefully while taking photos; she wanted to make sure that she didn’t overlook any evidence which might be a crucial clue to who their killer was. 

 

When the three investigators were done, they walked out of the apartment, gulping in clean air with gratitude.  Lindsay shuddered.  “That was horrific,” she said quietly.

 

Danny nodded before handing her a twenty dollar bill.  “Here ya go, Montana.”

 

Mac noticed the exchange and looked at them in confusion.  “What was that for?”

 

Danny rubbed the back of his neck sheepishly before answering, “When we got to the scene, we saw a uniform tossing his cookies.  I bet he was a newbie, Montana said it was gruesome scene.  She won.”

 

Mac shook his head.  “Actually, call it a tie.  That was a new officer.  First dead body,” he stated.

 

Lindsay shook her head while she handing the money back to Danny as the got in the SUV to return to the lab.

 

\------------------------------------------------------

 

When they got back to the lab, all three began to catalogue the evidence.  Looking at the laptop, Lindsay smiled as she took it to Adam.  “Hey, Adam,” she said brightly.  “I have a project for you.”

 

Adam Ross looked up from the slide he was analyzing.  “Hey, Lindsay.”

 

Lindsay set the laptop on the table next to him.  “This is the laptop from our vic’s apartment.  I turned it on at the scene, but it’s password protected.  Anything you can do to help?”

 

Adam smiled.  “Maybe.  Give me a bit to finish up this for Stella and I’ll look into it,” he responded easily.

 

Lindsay just nodded as she got a page from Sid.  “I’ll see you later.  Sid’s got some news for us,” she said as she walked out of the room.

 

She met Danny at the elevator and in silence they rode down to the morgue, hoping that Sid had managed to get some DNA from the charred body.  They walked in to find Sid, staring at the body, a look of disbelief on his face.

 

“Sid?  Whadda ya got for us?” Danny asked.

 

Sid looked up and snapped his glasses back into place.  “Not a lot.  I did manage to get some DNA and sent that up to the lab to test.  Cause of death is asphyxiation.  She was choked to death.  The cuts and burning were all post mortem.  Whomever did this was completely thorough.  The burning seared the edges of the cuts, so I can’t tell what kind of blade made them.  Fingerprints aren’t going to be helpful, since the pads of the fingers were burned off,” he shook his head.  “At least all of that was done post mortem, so the poor girl didn’t feel it.  I hope you find whoever did this.”

 

Lindsay looked down at the remains.  “I don’t think I’ve ever seen anything so brutal and yet there were no signs of forced entry.  She knew her attacker, Danny.  She had to have known them.”

 

Danny looked at her, shaking his head like she was.  “And there wasn’t that much useful trace at the scene.  Maybe Flack will have some luck with the interviews.”  He turned to Sid.  “Thanks, Sid.”

 

Sid smiled before stating, “One more thing.  There were signs that she had been moved after death, but before she was burned.”

 

“Great,” Lindsay muttered.  “Now we have to find the primary crime scene.”  She shook her had as she turned around and walked out of the morgue.

 

\-------------------------------------------------------------

 

Flack nodded again as he talked to the old women who lived above the apartment where the body was found.  “Okay, so Mrs. Andrews, you say that you heard a loud noise about two a.m. this morning?”

 

“Yes, dearie.  But that’s not unusual.  The nice girl that lived there was a night owl.  I swear, when she first moved in, I had to knock on her door several times to get her to quiet down.  We’re such a quiet building and we like to keep it that way.  She had been the perfect tenant after that.  Occasionally I would hear her come home, but in the last year or so, she had been quiet herself.”

 

Flack nodded appropriately.  “Do you know what she did for a living?  Did you ever see her arguing with anyone?” he asked.

 

Mrs. Andrews thought for a moment.  “I never did see a young man come around, although there were several young women.  I always wondered if she lived,” she hesitated before continuing, “an _alternative_ lifestyle, if you get my meaning.”

 

Flack suppressed a grin at the woman’s choice of words.  “Yes, ma’am.  Did she ever argue with any of those women?”

 

“Not that I ever saw,” she replied.  “I wish I could be more help, Detective.”  She looked at Flack and noticed the lack of a ring.  “I say, you are one of the most polite young men that I’ve ever met.  And handsome as sin to boot.  I think that you and my youngest granddaughter would get along very well.  Are you in a relationship?”

 

Flack looked up from his notes quickly, trying to think of a comeback.  “Um…no ma’am, but my job schedule makes a relationship difficult.  I don’t want to put any woman in that position.  Thank you for your time, Mrs. Andrews.  You have a nice day,” he said trying to escape.

 

Mrs. Andrews just nodded before closing her door.

 

When Flack got to the crime lab, he had mostly gotten over the woman trying to set him up, but was still chuckling at her boldness.  He walked into the lab, to find both Danny and Lindsay bent over microscopes looking at trace.  “Tell me you have good news,” he said without preamble.

 

Lindsay looked up with a smile.  “Partially.  The DNA that Sid got from the body matched the hair that I got from the brush, so we are assuming at this point that the body is that of Monica Jacobi.”

 

Danny took up the thread of the evidence from there.  “From the background check that we ran, she is clean.  Nothing in the police database, not even a parking ticket.  She worked at a publishing house, as a junior editor.  We were just waiting for you to get here to go and see her boss at work.  Did you get anything from the interviews?”

 

Flack chuckled again.  “Other than an offer for a woman to set me up with her granddaughter?  Nothing useful.  She was a quiet tenant, they never saw a man with her and the woman thought she might be gay because of that.”  Flack rolled his eyes as Danny smirked and Lindsay stifled her giggles behind a hand.

 

“Really?  A date?” Danny asked.  “You should take her up on that offer, Flack.  You’ve been living like a monk recently.”

 

“Don’t start, Messer.  Just because I have a more discriminating taste than you do, hardly means I’ve been living like a monk.”  He turned to Lindsay, who was doing her best to stay out of the conversation.  “Lindsay?  Do you want to go with me to her work?”

 

Lindsay nodded while taking off her gloves.  “Sure.  I’m done here anyway,” she said as she turned around and smirked at Danny.  “Have fun, Messer!”

 

\-------------------------------------------------------------

 

Flack and Lindsay walked into the small publishing house, McMurphy Publishing, and soon were meeting with the owner, Richard McMurphy.  After they flashed their badges, he looked at them in concern.  “How can I assist you?”

 

“Do you have an employee by the name of Monica Jacobi?” Flack asked.

 

“Yes, she is on vacation right now.  Is she in trouble?” he asked with concern in his voice.

 

Flack sighed.  “We believe she was found dead this morning.  We are trying to make a DNA match.”

 

Mr. McMurphy looked at him in shock.  “Monica’s dead?  How?  Why?  She was such a sweet girl.  Very promising career ahead of her.”

 

Lindsay looked at him.  “What did she do for you?”

 

He shook his head.  “She was my junior editor.  Although, she wanted to become a published writer.  She said that she took this job so that she could improve her writing.”  He snorted.  “Like she needed to improve!  She was one of the most talented writer’s that I’ve ever met.  She had just brought me the first chapter of her novel, which I have here, and I am over the moon about it.  I wanted to publish it for her, so I gave her two weeks of vacation so that she could work out a rough draft.  That was on Friday.”

 

Flack raised his eyebrows.  “Really?  Did she have any enemies?”

 

Mr. McMurphy shook his head.  “Not that I know of.  She was a very quiet introverted person.  Didn’t make friends very well.  As far as I know, she didn’t even go out.  I kept telling her that going out and living her life would improve her writing; it would give her a life basis to draw on for her characters.”  He thought for moment.  “Oh, God.  She told me Friday that she was going out to a club with one of her old college friends.  Dear Lord.  If that’s what caused her death then I’m responsible for pushing her into it!”  He looked like he was in shock.

 

Lindsay smiled at him with sympathy.  “We don’t know anything yet.  Do you know what club she was going to or who the friend was?”

 

He thought carefully.  “I think it was Club Blue and her friend’s name is Samantha.  I’m sorry I don’t know her last name.”

 

Flack wrote the information down.  “That’s okay.  You given us some place to look for now.  Thank you.”

 

Mr. McMurphy stood up and shook their hands.  “I hope that you find who did this, Detectives.”

 

Flack smiled.  “We will,” he promised as they left the room.

 


	2. Another Body

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Disclaimer: I am not Anthony Zuiker. I do not own the characters of CSI: NY. I do own anyone you don’t recognize including victims, bad guys and random characters, so don’t steal them! I will put the characters back where I found them, unharmed.

** Chapter 2.  Another Body **

 

When Flack and Lindsay got back to the lab, Danny was sporting his trademark smirk.  Lindsay looked at him with an eyebrow cocked.  “Okay, Messer.  Whatcha got?”

 

“How much you want me to tell you?” he returned.

 

“Stop clownin’ Messer.  Whatcha got?” Flack broke in.

 

“Vic was burned with an acetylene torch.  That’s the good news.  Bad news is that it’s fairly common and was probably purchased at a home improvement store.”

 

Lindsay shivered a bit.  “That explains why the apartment wasn’t burned,” she started when Mac walked in. 

 

“Hey, boss,” Danny called out.

 

“Danny, Lindsay.  What do you have?”

 

“Vic was burned by an acetylene torch and was strangled to death.  This was personal for whoever did this,” Danny responded instantly.

 

Mac nodded.  “What do we know about the vic?”

 

“Name’s Monica Jacobi, twenty-two years old.  Quiet girl, not much of a social life.  Worked at a small publishing house as junior editor.  Wanted to write for a living.  Perfect employee,” Flack summarized.

 

“Her boss just gave her two weeks of vacation after reading the first chapter of her story to work out a rough draft.  He didn’t know anything was wrong,” Lindsay finished.

 

“Any enemies?” Mac asked.

 

Lindsay and Flack shook their heads.  “Not that we know of,” Flack answered.  “We are trying to track down a college friend of hers—“ Flack trailed off as he consulted his memo book.  “Samantha something.  They were supposed to go out to Club Blue on Friday.”

 

Lindsay looked at Mac.  “I tried to get into her laptop, but it was password protected.  I left it with Adam, so I’m about to go see if he’s cracked it yet.  Maybe her email will give us a clue.”

 

Mac nodded.  “All right.  Keep me updated.  I have another case with Stella, so just call if you find anything.”

 

The three nodded before going their separate ways.  Flack to try and find Samantha, Danny to continue processing evidence and Lindsay to talk to Adam.

 

\-------------------------------------------------

 

Adam was slightly dancing along with the music on his iPod when Lindsay walked in.  She stopped and watched him for a moment before stifling a giggle and tapping him on the shoulder.

 

Adam jumped when he felt the tap and looked back sheepishly.  An expression of relief flickered across his face when he realized that she wasn’t Mac.  “Lindsay!”

 

“Have you gotten anything off the laptop yet?” Lindsay asked, shaking her head.

 

Adam shook his head.  “I haven’t broken the encryption yet.  Whoever wrote this is good—very good.”

 

Lindsay nodded and looked at the laptop.  “Why such a hard encryption?  She didn’t have a high profile job.  She was just an editor!” Lindsay asked in surprise.

 

Adam shrugged.  “Got me,” he paused as his computer beeped.  “Got it.  Let me log in now,” he said as she sat down in a wheeled chair and rolled over to the laptop.  After a few keystrokes, the wallpaper came up on the laptop.  It was a picture of a piece of parchment and a quill.  “Interesting background,” Adam commented.

 

Lindsay nodded.  “Pull up her email and see if she has an address book.  We are looking for a person called Samantha.”

 

Adam nodded as he pulled up the email program.  “Wow.  She was organized.  Look at all the folders and subfolders and _fifty-two_ new emails!”  He shook his head in disbelief as he pulled up the address book.  “Got it.  Samantha Miller.”

 

Lindsay wrote the name down and turned to leave, calling out, “Thanks, Adam!” over her shoulder.

 

Lindsay called Flack on her way to her office.  “Hey Flack.  We got a name off her laptop.  Samantha Miller.”  She paused for a second.  “Okay.  I’ll keep you posted.  Bye!”

 

She shook her head as she watched Danny process more evidence.  He looked up and winked at her.  “Hey, Messer.  Need help?”

 

He just waggled his eyebrows as response, then shook his head.  “Naw.  That was the last of it.  There’s nothing in the evidence that can narrow it down.  Even the handprints from around her neck were compromised by the burning, so we’re stuck.”

 

Lindsay sighed.  “This sucks,” she finally drawled before looking at her watch.  “Wanna go for a drink?”

 

Danny smiled and shook his head in agreement.  “Let me get cleaned up.  Ray’s?”

 

“Yeah.  I’ll meet you there and see if you can redeem yourself at pool,” Lindsay snarked as she walked out of the office.

 

\-------------------------------------------------

 

A dark figured flitted down the street, keeping to shadows, feeling people’s eyes pass over them.  The figure passed, a wry grin gracing their face, as eyes covered by sunglasses studied the building across from them.  Settling into the shadows, the figure studied the steady stream of people entering and leaving the building, waiting to see the one silhouette that they were looking for.

 

\-------------------------------------------------

 

Danny studied the table, the beer that he’d been nursing dangling between his fingers as Lindsay cleared the table again.  “I don’t get it, Montana.  How can you beat me three outta five games?  That just ain’t right.”

 

Lindsay laughed softly.  “What else do you think there is to do in the middle of winter when there are fifteen feet of snow on the ground?  I played with my brothers every day.  They said that they never want a guy to “show” me how to play pool.”  She rolled her eyes.  “I’ll admit, it was an easy way to earn spending money during college!”

 

Danny laughed along with her.  “Good to know.  I’m glad they did that.  That was one of my favorite ways to pick up a woman during college.”  He smirked as he winked at her.  “Lucky for you, I’ve come to appreciate a lady that can beat the snot outta me at pool.”

 

“Whatever, Messer,” Lindsay started until both of their cell phones rang.  “Well, that’s it for tonight,” she sighed in resignation.

 

“Yup,” Danny replied as he set the bottle down.  “Let’s go.”

 

\-------------------------------------------------

 

When Danny and Lindsay walked into the crime scene, they looked around at the similarity between it and Monica Jacobi’s apartment.  They looked at each other and in unison said, “Same killer.”

 

Danny nodded as he pulled out his phone.  “Mac?  Yeah, it’s Danny.  I think we might have a serial. Got it,” he said somberly as he hung up.  “Mac wants us to process this within an inch of its life.  Find any and all parallels with Monica.”

 

Lindsay nodded as she snapped on her gloves.  “I’ll take the bedroom,” she said walking out of the living room that was permeated with the smell of burned flesh.

 

Danny studied the body and its layout.  It was placed in the same approximate area as Monica’s body as well as having the same visual feel to the cuts and burned.  As before, only a small area around the body was burned, but the flesh of the body was burned to a crisp.  He carefully pulled up trace from the carpet, bagging every single hair he could find before spraying Luminal to find any trace blood.

 

Once done with that, he pulled out is fingerprint kit and started on the door before dusting every single surface in the room.  There were hundreds of prints, he noted dispassionately, keeping his frustration and fear of having a serial killer on their hands locked safely away in a corner of his mind.

 

In the bedroom, Lindsay was having no more luck.  She looked at the pictures that graced the wall and nightstands, noting that the current occupant of the apartment seemed to be a slightly overweight thirty year-old, with no close male ties.  The only men in the photographs looked as if they could be family.

 

She opened the purse, which was resting on the floor beside the bed, and extracted a wallet.  “Candice Fitzgerald, age thirty-five.  Who did you tangle with?” Lindsay asked quietly before turning to the laptop.

 

The laptop booted up after a couple of minutes and Lindsay was relieved to find that it was not password protected.  Grinning, she glanced at the icons on the desktop and decided to bag it for further analysis at the lab.

 

Finally, she grabbed the evidence and walked back into the main living area.  “I found a driver’s license.  Looks like our vic is Candice Fitzgerald.  Find anything?” she asked Danny as he picked up his evidence as well.

 

“Pretty much the same as the other apartment.”  He sighed.  “I don’t like this, Linds.  Not at all.”

 

She shook her head. “Neither do I, Danny.  I’ve got this bad feeling in my gut that this is far from over.”

 

Danny looked at her, his eyes mirroring her concerns.  “Me, too, Lindsay,” he said softly as they left the apartment.

 


	3. Frustration

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Disclaimer: I am not Anthony Zuiker. I do not own the characters of CSI: NY. I do own anyone you don’t recognize including victims, bad guys and random characters, so don’t steal them! I will put the characters back where I found them, unharmed.

** Chapter 3.  Frustration **

 

When Danny and Lindsay got back to the lab, they started to process the evidence.  Lindsay had just slipped into her lab coat when Adam walked into the lab.  “Hey, Adam,” she said calmly.

 

Adam was dancing in place as he smirked.  “Hey.  You’ve gotta see this.  Your vic’s computer?  I’ve never seen anything so organized in my entire life.  I found out what your vic does with the majority of her time.”

 

Lindsay looked at him intrigued.  “Really?  So what does she do with the majority of the time?” Lindsay asked as she followed Adam back to the AV lab.

 

“FanFiction.”

 

“What?  What is that?” Lindsay asked in confusion.

 

Adam smirked again as Danny joined them.  “It’s a genre of writing.  Basically, amateur writers take preexisting characters, say from TV, books, movies, and write a story with them.”

 

Lindsay still looked a bit confused.  “So they publish them?”

 

Adam shook his head.  “Nope.  They can’t make any money from the stories, it would be a copywrite infringement if they did and that would open them up to lawsuits.”

 

“So, how does this help us?” Danny asked.

 

Adam sat down in his chair.  “It helps us because it seems like she has a cyber enemy,” he said while pointing at the screen.  “I spent hours, and I mean hours, going through all of her emails.  Most of the ones that come from the fanfiction website look like reviews for her stories; she had four in progress.  But I also discovered that this particular website has a private messaging service.  Registered users can basically email other users through the website without having to give out their email address.”

 

Lindsay shook her head.  “So, basically you found something through the messages?”

 

Adam nodded as he pulled up an email.  “It looks like she was having an argument with a writer over that writer’s story.”  He glanced at both of them before continuing.  “By the way, you guys owe me for this.  Luckily, your vic had saved all of the messages and it turns out that the feud was going on for several months.”

 

Lindsay and Danny watched in fascination as Adam pulled up another email.

 

“This is what started it,” he said pointing to the screen.

 

Lindsay leaned over and read the email out loud.  “You bitch,” she began before stopping.  “Dear Lord, can this person type?  This looks like an instant message!  Anyway, you bitch.  How dare you criticize my story!  This is the best story ever and if you’ll bother to look at my other reviews, everyone else loves it too!”

 

Lindsay rolled her eyes and Adam laughed.  “Yeah, it’s that bad,” Adam said.  “I actually went to this person’s story and I thought my eyes would fall out of my head.  It’s a story about _Buffy: The Vampire Slayer_ and let’s just say, I don’t think she’s ever seen an episode or a dictionary.”

 

Danny was unable to suppress his laugh.  “So how does this pinpoint our killer, Adam?”

 

Adam shook his head.  “The latter tone of the messages is what might help.  All of the most recent messages, within the last two weeks, she has been threatening your vic.”

 

“But this is all anonymous, isn’t it.  How would this writer know how to find our vic?” Lindsay mused.

 

Adam shrugged.  “That’s for you guys to figure out.  But I did find a couple other interesting things.  She was emailing regularly with three people.  Two she had listed in an email folder under their pen names and the other one was just a normal person.”

 

“Ya got names?” Danny asked.

 

“Yup.  The two with email folders are Cassie Jones and Erica Gilbert, the other one is Samantha Miller.  I’m trying to track their IP address down, but it’s going to take some time.”

 

Danny smiled.  “That’s something that we can work with.  Thanks, Adam,” he said as they walked out of the room.

 

While they were walking back to the lab, Lindsay kept musing over the information that they had gotten.  “Samantha Miller is the one that she was going to the club with.  I wonder if Flack has found anything on her,” she mused.

 

Danny nodded and he looked down the hallway, seeing Flack striding towards them.  “I guess he found something, Montana,” he replied with a smile.  “Flack, man.  Tell me you have some news.”

 

Flack raised an eyebrow.  “What kinda news do you want?” he returned snarkily. 

 

Lindsay just looked at him before putting her hand on Danny’s arm to prevent him from responding.  “Really, Don.  We have news, too.  You tell us yours, I’ll tell you ours,” she shot back in a sweet voice.

 

Flack shook his head in defeat.  “Fine.  I found Samantha Miller.  I’m heading out to the address now.  Maybe we can find out what happened Friday night.”  He shot Lindsay a look.  “So, what’s your news?”

 

“Good news is that she has an enemy.  Bad news is that it’s a cyber enemy,” Lindsay revealed.  “Adam found a person that she was communicating with through a website, but now we get to try to track that person down.  They could be anywhere in the world.”

 

Danny nodded in agreement.  “Also, she was emailing regularly with three people; one of them being Samantha Miller.  Maybe you can get some information out of her.”

 

Flack nodded.  “Lindsay?  Want to come with me?”

 

Lindsay nodded as she stripped off the lab coat.  “Sure.  Let’s go.”

 

\-------------------------------------------------

 

The dark figure sighed in exasperation as the silhouette that they were looking for still had not appeared. Settling back into the shadows again, trying to get comfortable, the figures eyes roamed across the people walking in the street.  _Where is she?  She is usually home by this time._   Trying not to bring attention to themselves, the figure suppressed the urge to growl in frustration.  About to give up in resignation, the figure had just leaned forward when a car pulled up in front of the building.

 

The figure stared with shocked eyes as they recognized the two people emerging from the car.  _Cops,_ the figure realized.  Quickly, under the cover of a large group of people walking by, they slipped off into the bustling city.

                   

\-------------------------------------------------

 

Flack and Lindsay made their way up the four story walk-up with ease.  Both had spent enough time in the city that stairs were no problem.  Walking down the fourth story corridor, they arrived at Samantha’s door.

 

Lindsay took the lead and knocked on the door.  She waited a couple of seconds and with no response, knocked again.  Still no response.  “I guess she’s not home,” she muttered.

 

Flack shook his head.  “Why does that not surprise me?”

 

“Do you have any other way to try to track her down?”

 

Flack thought for a moment.  “I can try leaving a message,” he said pulling out his cell phone and dialing the number that he scrawled in his memo pad.  “This message is for Samantha Miller.  This is Detective Flack of the NYPD; I need to speak to you in regards to Monica Jacobi.  This is urgent, so please return this call as soon as possible.”  He ended the call by leaving his phone number.

 

Both feeling disappointed, they climbed back into the car, to drive back to the lab.

 

\-------------------------------------------------

 

The stalker sighed in relief as the cops left.  With eyes darting around, the person watched for the woman.  The figure’s patience was rewarded within thirty minutes as the striking blonde walked around the corner.

 

Totally lost in her thoughts, the woman paid no attention as the hooded figure slipped behind her.  By the time she realized she was being followed, it was too late.  The needle pricked her neck, as an arm wrapped around her.  Blackness engulfed her as she began to fall to the floor in front of her door.

 

\-------------------------------------------------

 

When Flack and Lindsay arrived back at the lab, they found both Adam and Danny grinning.  Lindsay raised an eyebrow before stating, “You guys look like the cat that got into the cream.  What did you find?”

 

Danny rubbed his hands together gleefully as Adam bounced lightly on the balls of his feet.  “It was all Adam.  He found address’s on the other two girls on the first vic’s email list.”

 

Lindsay nodded.  “Okay.  Any thing we can go on?”

 

Adam shook his head.  “Unfortunately, no.  Both of them live overseas.  One is in South America; she’s some kind of a missionary.  The other lives in Italy.  Both of them are still in those countries, but that’s not the exciting part.”  He glanced at Danny who was still smirking.

 

“The second vic’s email also contained emails from the same fanfiction website.  With private messages from the same author as the first vic’s.  Both of them, it appears, posted negative reviews for the author’s story,” Danny explained.

 

Flack raised both of his eyebrows.  “So, ya got an address?”

 

Both Danny and Adam’s faces fell at his simple question.  “Not yet,” Adam admitted.  “All we have to go off of is her penname.  CandiLovesWilliamTheBloody.  And that is Candi with an ‘I’.”  Adam rolled his eyes.

 

“Gawd,” Flack muttered.  “Why do I get the feeling that this girl is some thirteen year old idiot?”

 

Danny nodded his head in agreement.  “Whoever this girl is, she is tech savvy.  We haven’t been able to track down her IP, yet.  And the website is requiring a warrant to release their records.  Mac tried a judge, but he wouldn’t sign off.  Not enough evidence yet.”

 

All of them sighed in their frustration.  Lindsay looked at them.  “Okay.  Let’s go back to the vics.  Let’s find some other connection between them if we can.  First vic, Monica Jacobi, was a shy, introverted girl.  Talented writer.  She lived alone in her apartment, no male company to speak of.  Typical internet browser.  She finds fanfiction by some miracle and starts posting on the site.  Maybe to get approval for her stories?” Lindsay mused.

 

Flack nodded and picked up the thread, “Second vic, Candice Fitzgerald, from the looks of it was an insecure person.  In her thirties, overweight, no male company to speak of as well.  What else did you find on her computer, Adam?”

 

Adam sat in his chair and rolled over to the second laptop.  “She also spent a lot of time on the internet.  She was a registered user of several fanfiction sites, including the one that the first vic used.  I did take the liberty to browse her author page.  She wrote quite a bit.  Some of her reviews were for the first vic’s stories and the first vic also reviewed her stories.  It showed no evidence that they talked beyond that.”

 

Danny continued, “Both vic’s posted critical reviews for the same author, who in turn took the criticism rather badly.  Most of this girl’s private messages were full of vulgar language.  Other than that, I don’t see any connection between them.”

 

Lindsay sighed as she settled in a chair.  “I just feel like we’re missing something.  Something important and I think that it has to do with the fanfiction.  We need to find someone who knows this community.”

 

Flack nodded his agreement.  “But how?”

 

Adam cleared his throat.  “I have a strange idea.  We have the email addresses of the two authors that the first vic talked to the most.  Why don’t we try to contact them?”

 

The other three people in the room turned and stared at Adam in surprise, who immediately looked a little nervous.  “Excellent idea,” Flack said.  “Get me their contact information and I’ll see what we can do.”

 

Adam nodded and rushed to comply with his request, knowing, along with the other three, that the more time that passed, the more time the killer had to take another life.

 


	4. Escalation

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Disclaimer: I am not Anthony Zuiker. I do not own the characters of CSI: NY. I do own anyone you don’t recognize including victims, bad guys and random characters, so don’t steal them! I will put the characters back where I found them, unharmed.

** Chapter 4.  Escalation **

 

Flack walked back into the bullpen with two names on the paper that Adam had given him.  _How am I going to convince these two women that I really am from the NYPD?_   He sat at his desk, thinking about how best to approach the women that the first victim was emailing.  Making some calculations and researching the world time zones, he discovered that it would be easier to reach the woman in South America first.  With the decision made, he quickly dialed the international number.  “May I speak to Cassie Jones, please?” he asked calmly when the phone was answered.  He didn’t have to wait long, within seconds the woman was on the line.  “Ms. Jones.  My name is Detective Don Flack with the New York Police Department.”

 

 _“NYPD?  Why are you calling me?”_ Cassie asked in confusion.

 

“Do you know a Monica Jacobi?” Flack answered.  He could feel her confusion over the phone.

 

 _“Monica?  I meet her on the internet and we became fairly good friends.  Is she in trouble?”_ she asked with an edge in her voice.

 

Flack sighed.  He hated this part.  “I’m sorry to say that she was found deceased a couple of days ago.  When was the last time that you spoke to her?”

 

Cassie took the phone away from her ear and stared at it in shock.  _“What?  Monica’s dead?  Um…”_   She trailed off for a moment before realizing that he had asked her a question.  _“Sorry, I’m in shock here.  Monica is, I mean was, a great person.  I got an email from her on Friday morning, but she never responded back to my reply.  I thought she was just immersed in her novel.  Why?”_

 

Flack shook his head.  “We’re trying to find the person that murdered her, but I’ll admit I’m a little out of my depth.  We’ve found evidence that she had a cyber enemy.  I writer called CandiLovesWilliamTheBloody on a fanfiction website.  Do you know anything about that?”

 

Cassie sat down heavily in a wooden chair, while twisting a strand of chocolate colored hair around her finger absentmindedly.  _“Ah, yes, I’m very familiar with that writer.  Please, my dog could writer better than her!”_

 

Flack laughed at the sardonic tone in her voice.  “Is there anyone that she talked about?  Someone she was afraid of?”

 

Cassie thought for a moment before responding, _“Not to my knowledge.  We did manage to talk four or five days out of the week and the only person that she was having problems with was that bloody writer.  I can understand that.  I reviewed one of that woman’s stories only to get a reply back saying that I was stupid.  I left it at that, but I know that Monica took it a little further.  I told her that she was wasting her time by flaming the girl, but she just lost it after the girl reviewed her story saying that it was the worst piece of fiction that she’d ever read.  Monica was furious.”_

Flack started when he heard the world flame.  “What do you mean by flaming?  I’ve never read any fanfiction, so I’m a bit lost here,” he admitted honestly.

 

Cassie laughed softly, forgetting who she was speaking to for a moment.  _“In the fanfiction world, flaming is writing a nasty review for someone that includes absolutely no constructive criticism.  Normally most good writers, when critiquing, offer ideas for how to make a story better, but occasionally you’ll get a writer who just says nasty things.  Why is that important?”_

 

Flack refrained from telling her the grizzly way that Monica had been killed and instead said, “I’m just trying to learn more.”  He was interrupted by a page on this phone.  He looked down, saw the address and felt his heart sink.  “I’m sorry, I have to go, but if I have any more questions about fanfiction, can I call you?”

 

 _“Sure.”_ There was a slight pause.  _“And Detective, please find whoever did this.  Monica was a very talented writer and…she was my friend.  No one deserves to be murdered,”_ Cassie ended with some emotion.

 

“I will, Ms. Jones.  I will,” Flack assured her.

 

\-------------------------------------------------

 

Danny, Lindsay and Adam were sitting in the lab, going over theories when the page came in.  Both Danny and Lindsay looked at their phone, with Lindsay gasping in surprise as she recognized the address.  “God, that’s Samantha Miller’s place.  Shit,” she muttered shaking her head.  “We were just there a couple of hours ago!”

 

Danny looked at her in surprise and worry.  “We gotta catch this guy, Montana,” he said forcefully as he stripped off his lab coat and grabbed his kit.

 

Lindsay nodded as she did the same.  “Let’s go.”

 

\-------------------------------------------------

 

Flack arrived at the scene to see Danny and Lindsay climbing out of a crime lab SUV.  Flack nodded to both of them wearily as he walked towards them.  “I have some interesting information.  Something that might explain why the victims have been burned.”

 

Danny’s looked at him expectantly before asking, “Okay.  Why have the vics been burned?”

 

Flack smiled.  “I just got off the phone with Cassie Jones and she explained that there is a term in fanfiction called flaming.  It’s when a reviewer leaves a nasty review on a story.  Basically bashes it.”

 

Both of the CSI’s nodded.  Lindsay bit her lip before venturing, “That makes sense.  All the evidence is definitely pointing to this being a revenge killing.”  She shook her head before starting to walk towards the building.

 

Flack and Danny shared a glance before nodded to each other.  “We’ve gotta catch this killer, Danny.”

 

Danny nodded.  “I know.  It’s escalating.  If we don’t catch ‘em soon, more people are going to die.”  He paused for a second.  “On the bright side, the quicker that the killer works, the more likely it is for them to make a mistake.”

 

Flack nodded before realizing that Lindsay had already disappeared into the building.  “Lindsay’s going to make us look bad,” he said with a nod of this head.

 

Danny rubbed the back of his neck before walking towards open door a couple of steps behind Flack.  They walked into the apartment, Flack feeling regret, to see a familiar scene.  Blood spatter decorated the walls; a burned body lay in the center of the living room.  Lindsay was already taking pictures, a grim look on her face.

 

She looked up as they entered the room.  “I can promise you, she was still alive when we were here, Flack.  These burns are fresh, less than an hour old.” 

 

Flack nodded.  “I’ll go canvas the neighbors, see if they heard anything,” he said, quickly stepping out of the room.

 

Danny looked at her, seeing the suppressed rage in her chocolate eyes, feeling her guilt and regret.  He gave her a reassuring look before crouching down to open his kit.  Snapping on a pair of latex gloves, he withdrew his flashlight and began to look for any sort of trace that could pinpoint who their killer was.

 

After Lindsay was finished with the pictures, she walked into the bedroom, unsurprised to see a laptop on Samantha’s bed.  Quickly, she opened the laptop.  “Thank God, no passwords,” she muttered as the desktop became available.  Curious, she opened the email to see if there were any emails from the fanfiction website.  She didn’t see anything in the new emails, and her email folders were not near as organized as Monica’s were.  Sighing in defeat, she closed the laptop and bagged it as evidence and continued to search the room to find any connection to the killer.

 

\-------------------------------------------------

 

Flack began knocking on doors, hoping to find anyone who saw something.  He knocked on the first door, the apartment to the left of Samantha’s and was greeted by a harried looking woman with two screaming children in the background.  She wasn’t paying attention as she opened the door; instead she was turned scolding the boy for pulling on the girl’s hair.  “Scott!  I’ve told you once before, if you pull on her hair one more time, you’re going to time out.”  Sighing she turned back to the door and looked at Flack in confusion.  “Can I help you?”

 

Flack flashed is badge.  “Ma’am.  Did you hear anything unusual this afternoon?”

 

The woman looked at him in shock.  “No…but with these two, I wouldn’t be able to hear an atomic bomb if it went off outside of this apartment.  What’s going on?” she asked as she peeked out the door.  She let out a gasp as she saw Sid wheeling the body out of Samantha’s apartment.  “Oh, God!”

 

Flack followed her gaze and grimaced a bit.  “Did you know Samantha Miller?”

 

The woman nodded her head slightly.  “Just from passing in the hallway.  I must say that she never complained about the noise my kids tend to make.  She was a nice girl.”

 

“Did you ever see anything unusual?  Someone hanging around.  Something out of place.”

 

The woman laughed.  “Seriously, Detective, the only time I get out of this apartment is when my husband has a day off, which is very rare.  Otherwise, I have no life.  I do remember seeing her with a brunette on Friday.  It looked like they were going out, which is not unusual for her.  She went out to the clubs every Friday night, but I’d never seen the girl before.”  She paused as the girl behind began to cry again.  “I’m sorry, Detective, but I’ve gotta go.”

 

Flack nodded as she closed the door, taking notes on his memo pad and then with a sigh, moved down to the next door to begin the process over.

 

\-------------------------------------------------

 

Danny was studying the rug next to the body when the flashlight picked up a flash.  “Boom!  Montana, I think I got something!” he called out in glee.

 

Lindsay walked out of the bedroom, her eyebrow raised.  “Find something?”

 

Danny nodded, picking up a strand of black hair with his tweezers.  “Black hair.  Obviously not the vic’s since she was a blonde.”  He glanced at her with a smirk on his face.  “Find anything in the bedroom?”

 

“Laptop.  I bagged it for Adam to look over.  Not much else,” she muttered, her frustration seeping into her voice.  She was about to say more when Mac walked in.  “Hey, Mac.”

 

“Lindsay, Danny,” he said cordially.  “Is this the same perp or copycat?”

 

Both sighed, but Danny answered Mac readily.  “Looks like the same perp, but I did find a hair this time.  Whoever is doing this is escalating.  They’re getting a sloppy.”

 

Lindsay nodded.  “We have some information about a possible suspect, but we don’t have any evidence to tie them together yet.”

 

Mac crouched down next to day, staring at the rug which retained the outline of the dead body.  “The press is becoming interested in this.  We need to close this case before the city panics,” he cautioned them.

 

Both Danny and Lindsay looked at each other, knowing that the press would run with the serial and soon the city would begin to erupt in fear.  Silently, they gathered the evidence and left to go back to the lab.

 


	5. Dead Ends

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Disclaimer: I am not Anthony Zuiker. I do not own the characters of CSI: NY. I do own anyone you don’t recognize including victims, bad guys and random characters, so don’t steal them! I will put the characters back where I found them, unharmed.

** Chapter 5.  Dead Ends **

 

The next day, Danny and Lindsay were back in the lab, processing what little evidence that they had.  Lindsay walked over to Adam, who was staring at the computer in confusion.  “Adam?” she asked with a question in her voice.

 

Adam turned around.  “Hey, Lindsay.  I don’t have anything for you.  The DNA test on the hair is still processing and Samantha Miller’s computer is a dead end.”

 

Lindsay drew her eyebrows together.  “What do you mean by a dead end?”

 

Adam shook his head.  “I mean, there is nothing on this that will help us catch the killer, dead end.  She wasn’t even registered with the fanfiction site.”

 

Lindsay groaned as she rolled her eyes.  “And without that, there is no way a judge will get us a warrant.”

 

Adam shrugged his shoulders.  “Sorry.  Nothing I can do.”

 

Lindsay nodded as she turned to walk out of the room.  “I know, Adam.  This is just frustrating.  Page me when you get the DNA results.”

 

Adam nodded as he went back to trying to trace the IP address of CandiLovesWilliamTheBloody.  So far, he was coming up empty.  He had a hunch that without the data from the fanfiction website, he wouldn’t be able to track down the location of the suspected killer.

 

**\-------------------------------------------------**

 

A week had passed since the murder of Samantha Miller and the crime lab was frustrated.  Unfortunately, the hair had not produced any DNA, there just weren’t enough cells on it to pin down a profile and Adam hadn’t had any luck in tracking the IP address either.

 

Flack walked into the break room to find Danny, Adam and Lindsay looking forlorn over their cups of coffee.  “Why do you guys look like someone died?” he asked with a raised eyebrow.

 

Danny looked up at him.  “Because we got squat.  We have no evidence and not one suspect other than a pen name on a website.”

 

Flack grinned like the Cheshire cat.  “I think I might have something to help you out then,” he said as he stood to the side and an attractive auburn haired woman walked in.  “I’d like to introduce you to Cassie Jones.  She just flew in from South America and has offered her help in trying to navigate the fanfiction website.”

 

Cassie looked around at the group of people in the break room, feeling nervous.  “Hi, y’all.”

 

Flack smiled down at the overwhelmed woman.  “Cassie, this is CSI Danny Messer, CSI Lindsay Monroe and lab tech Adam Ross,” he introduced pointing to each of them.

 

Adam’s eyes lit up in interest.  “Cassie, I’m glad that you’ve come to help us.  I’ll admit, I’m a little out of my depth here.”

 

Cassie smiled, feeling a kinship to Adam.  “I’ll do everything I can.  What do you have so far?”

 

The group of detectives looked at each other, wondering what they could release to her.  Cassie saw the look and correctly interpreted it.  “Look, I’m not asking for details, but from my conversation with Detective Flack it looks like y’all think that CandiLovesWilliamTheBloody has something to do with it.  Am I correct in assuming that y’all haven’t been able to locate her?”  Adam looked at her in stunned silence; Cassie laughed as she shook her head.  “Look, I write forensic crime as well.  It’s a logical step.”

 

Flack looked at her with a little more respect.  “I’d say that you’re right, then.”

 

Cassie nodded.  “Have you tried contacting her through the website?”

 

Adam shook his head.  “No. I have no idea how to do that.”

 

Cassie smiled again.  “I’m assuming that y’all have a computer somewhere that I can use?”

 

Adam nodded his head and together the group walked from the break room to the AV lab.  Adam sat down at his chair and pulled up the website.  Lindsay pulled a chair over for Cassie to sit in and earned a look of gratitude from the woman.

 

She slid into the seat and looked at the computer screen.  “Well, the first thing that you could do is sign up.  Membership is free and all it requires in an email address.  Now, if you want to post a story, to make yourself look like a legitimate writer, you could do that.”

 

Danny snorted as he began to laugh.  “No offense, but I don’t think any of us can write.”

 

Lindsay slapped his bicep lightly.  “Hey!  How do you know that one of us isn’t a closet writer?”

 

Danny looked at her, with a smirk on his face.  “Face it Montana, Flack or me wouldn’t be able to pass as a serious writer, and unless you and Adam are hiding something, neither could you.” 

 

Lindsay rolled her eyes.  “I hate it when you’re right,” she muttered under her breath.  “Fine, I’ll admit it.  I’m not a writer.  I was always into science in school.”

 

Adam shrugged.  “The last thing I wrote was a paper for college.  I was never good at creative writing.”

 

“Not a problem,” interjected Cassie.  “I can write one for y’all and post it.  This website has a two day time frame from the time you sign up until the time you post, so if you sign up today, I can upload it in two days.”

 

“All right,” Adam replied.  “So how do you log on?”

 

Cassie settled back in her chair and began to instruct Adam on creating an author page.  When they got to choosing a penname, they hit a road block.  None of them could agree on what they wanted the penname to be.

 

Cassie listened to the suggestions being bantered about, namely by Flack, Danny and Adam, while her and Lindsay just rolled there eyes.  _HotNewYorker, Hot4Buffy,_ to name a few.

 

Finally she stuck her hand up in the air.  “Okay.  Stop it.  First of all, what kind of persona do you want this author page to suggest?  Because with some of the _suggestions_ that y’all are making are just plain ridiculous!  First off, if I’m going to be writing the story, then we need to make the author page a little more…ladylike.”

 

The rest of the group stared at her.  “Fine,” Danny said.  “What do you suggest?”

 

“Well, we know that Candi writes for _Buffy: The Vampire Slayer_ , so it stands to reason that we should post our story there.  So, going for a Buffylike name, is probably our best choice.  I’m thinking maybe Dru’sRedemption.”

 

Adam scooted back from the computer and gestured her towards on.  “Lead on, oh wise fanfiction author.”

 

Cassie just rolled her eyes at him and situated herself in front of the computer.  Within moments, she had signed them up; using an email address created by Adam with the same penname, and was typing out an author profile.  Quickly, she made the page look indistinguishable from the other author pages, complete with an avatar.

 

Danny looked at her in awe with how little ease it took her to set up the page.  “So, now what?” he asked.

 

Flack nodded.  “Now, we wait, get a story posted and then review for Candi’s story.  Hopefully, she’ll respond back and we’ll be able to trace her IP address.”

 

Everyone looked at each other in silence until Cassie cleared her throat.  “In that case, I’m going to head home and write a story that we can post.”

 

Flack nodded to her, but it was Adam that offered to show her to the door.  Danny smirked after Adam left.  “Ah, nerd flirting!  It’s great!” he said with a chuckle.  Flack and Lindsay began to laugh along.

 

**\-------------------------------------------------**

 

Two days later, Cassie was back in the crime lab, walking nervously towards the AV lab.  She carried a flash drive in her purse, containing a story that she had written to post for the lab.  In a way, it was making her feel better about hearing about Monica’s death.  Granted, they had never met in person, but she felt a close kinship with the younger woman in regards to their mutual passion for writing.

 

She paused a bit outside of the lab, taking a deep breath as she watched the lab tech, Adam bouncing a bit as he was obviously dancing to his Ipod.  She smiled lightly before walking into the room.

 

Adam was lost in his own world, dancing around to Nickleback, when he felt a hand touch his shoulder.  Involuntarily, he flinched before turning around and seeing Cassie standing there.  He grinned, a little bit embarrassed as he took the ear bugs out of his ears.  “Hey.”

 

Cassie smiled at him, ignoring his flinch.  “Hey.  I’ve got the story, if you want to upload it and then we can start to review for Candi’s story.”

 

Adam nodded, gesturing her towards the chair in front of the computer.  “Mi computer, es tu computer,” he joked.

 

Cassie just rolled her eyes while shaking her head.  “Does Detective Flack want to be here for the review?”

 

Adam shrugged.  “I don’t know, but I’ll page, him, Danny and Lindsay and see what they say.  Why don’t you ahead and upload the chapter?” he suggested.

 

Cassie nodded and quickly logged into the site.  Within a couple of moments, she had uploaded the chapter and was typing in a disclaimer.  Adam watched her as she wrote her disclaimer.  “Why are you writing that?”

 

Cassie glanced up at him.  “A disclaimer?  I don’t want to be sued.  I want everyone to know that I am not making any money from this story.  You know the drill, CYA.”  She looked at Adam’s confused gaze.  “Cover your ass.”

 

“Oh, gotcha,” Adam said sheepishly.  He continued to watch as her fingers fairly flew over the keyboard and soon, the story was posted on the website.  “So what happens from here?”

 

Cassie sighed.  “Well, people will review the story and tell you whether or not they like it.  You’ll get emails with the reviews, although you can choose to turn that off, if you want.  Right now, I need to go and read the latest story from the crappy writer.  I haven’t read anything by her in about a year and I want to see if she’s improved.”  Cassie rolled her eyes.  “Last time I read something by her, I was so mad that I couldn’t sleep!”

 

Adam looked at her, seeing the animation coming to her face; she was obviously very passionate about writing.  “Why?” he queried.

 

Cassie rolled her eyes again as she turned in the chair to face Adam.  “She kept calling Willow, Wilma!  I mean, come on!  Have you even watched the show?  She’s a major character!” she exclaimed in disgust.

 

Adam chuckled at her obvious annoyance.  “Yikes.  That’s bad.”

 

“Yeah, and that’s the understatement of the century.  Top that all off with, when I’ve left her constructive reviews on what she needs to do to improve her writing, she’s very sarcastic in her replies.”  Cassie sighed heavily.  “I’m not looking forward to having to interact with her, but if it helps to find Monica’s killer, then it’s worth it.”

 

Adam nodded as Flack, Danny and Lindsay walked into the lab.

 

Flack looked at Cassie.  “Thank you for doing this, Cassie.  So where are we at with the story?”

 

Cassie smiled.  “Well, I just uploaded our story and I’ve pulled up Candi’s current story that she’s posting on.  I’m thinking that we can just straight flame her because I am so not into constructive criticism right now.  I just wanted to know if y’all wanted some input into the review to maybe make the flame a little more,” she paused for a second, “harsh?”

 

Flack looked at her in confusion. “Why?”

 

“Well, in my experience with her, the more negative things you say about her story, the angrier she gets.  It may be the best way to get her to the breaking point and into a private messaging war.”

 

Lindsay nodded.  “That sounds like a good plan.  So I guess we all have to read this story?”

 

Cassie looked at Adam.  “Can you put it up on the large screen so we can read it at the same time?”

 

Adam nodded.  “Sure,” he said as he bent over the keyboard and punched a few keys.  “Here ya go.”

 

Cassie nodded and together they began to read the story.


	6. This Is War

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Disclaimer: I am not Anthony Zuiker. I do not own the characters of CSI: NY. I do own anyone you don’t recognize including victims, bad guys and random characters, so don’t steal them! I will put the characters back where I found them, unharmed.

** Chapter 6.  This is war **

 

Cassie looked around at the stunned faces that the group from the crime lab was sporting.  To say they were shocked would have been an understatement.  Lindsay’s mouth kept opening and closing; she was obviously unable to form any words.

 

Danny, however, was not having that problem.  “Seriously?  Ya kiddin’ me?  She calls that writing?  I know dogs that can write better than that!  Now I know that I am not a writer, but even I know that there is this thing called spell check!  Can she use it?”

 

Flack, too, was sputtering in disbelief.  “Do people even talk like that?  It’s like reading something that a five year old wrote!”

 

Finally, Lindsay was able to form her reply.  “Dear God.  I want to gouge my eyes out with something sharp and rusty!”

 

Cassie had to laugh at that.  “I understand.  That is the one drawback to reading fanfiction.  Sometimes, it’s okay.  But the majority of it is straight and utter crap.  At least some of the writers do take constructive criticism, but this is one of the few that don’t!”

 

Danny rubbed the back of his neck, clearly puzzled.  “I have to ask.  Now, I have watched _Buffy_ at little bit, but who the heck is Wilma?  I thought her name was Willow!”

 

Cassie rolled her eyes.  “It is and yes, that’s who she was referring too.  See what I mean?”  Cassie quickly hit the review button, so she could type it in.  “Okay.  So how bad do you want this to be?”

 

“Make it really bad,” Lindsay snarled.  “I think I lost brain cells from reading that story!”

 

Cassie laughed when Lindsay said that.  “I’ve got to use that in the review!”  She began typing, reading aloud as she did so.  “Okay, so I just finished reading what you are calling a story and I have to say, what?  Your story makes no sense and your writing is even worse!  I mean, come on, a five year old could write better than this!” Flack grinned as she said that.  “On top of that, who in the heck is Wilma?  I was under the belief that her name was Willow or am I wrong?  After reading the crap that you call writing, I’ve not only lost brain cells, but now I have this strong urge to gouge my eyes out with a rusty fork!  Maybe you should read some actual books or watch the show before you decide to inflict your writing on anyone else.”

 

Cassie looked at the group.  “So, was I harsh enough?”

 

Danny, Flack and Adam were bent over in laughter, while Lindsay was smiling broadly.  Adam stopped laughing long enough to answer her.  “I don’t think so, but I think that anything else would have gone over her head!”

 

Flack also got his laughter under control.  “Now what?”

 

Cassie sighed.  “Now, we wait for her to respond.  Hopefully, she’s online right now, but if not, it may take a while.  All you have to do is keep checking the email account and see when you get a response.”

 

Danny and Lindsay sighed.  “Well, then we should get back to the lab and see if there is any more trace evidence we can examine.”

 

Flack nodded.  “I’m going back to the pit.  See if I can find anything in the background of the victims that ties them together more than fanfiction.”

 

Cassie watched as the three people left the room before turning to Adam.  “So, what do you have to do?”

 

Adam shrugged.  “I’ve got some video that I need to review before my boss, Mac, gets back.  Feel free to stay here and keep an eye on the computer though.”

 

Cassie nodded.  “Thanks.”

 

**\-------------------------------------------------**

 

Flack was sitting in the pit trying to find more information on the victims, when the call out came.  Another dead body; as soon as the description of the scene came in, he knew it was the same killer.  Sighing in both anger and frustration, he quickly called Danny and Lindsay to let them know the location.

 

When he arrived, just moments before the pair, he was obviously upset.  His expression matched the frustration on both Danny and Lindsay’s faces.  The three looked at each other before Lindsay growled, “We’d better catch this girl or I’m going to throw the stupid computer off the roof!”

 

Danny nodded emphatically.  “I agree, Montana.  It is so not worth reading that story if we can’t catch the stupid girl!”

 

Flack nodded as he pulled out his memo pad.  “I’ll start hitting the witnesses and see if I can get any information outta them.”

 

Danny nodded to him as they walked up to the second floor of the apartment building with reluctance.  He paused at the door, not wanting to see what the body had in store for them.

 

Lindsay put a comforting hand on his arm. “We’ll catch her, Danny,” she said softly as she stepped past him and into a familiar scene.

 

Just like the other scenes, the body of a young woman lay in the middle of the floor, burned.  Unlike the other scenes, however, there were obvious signs of struggle.  Danny looked at the overturned furniture, a feeling of hope beginning to flutter inside of him.  “Ya know, Montana, I think our luck might have turned.  The vic obviously put up a fight and ya know what that means…”

 

“Lots of evidence,” Lindsay finished with a slight grin.  “You want the body?”

 

“Might as well,” Danny agreed as he moved towards the young woman.

 

Lindsay moved around the living room, looking at the photographs.  She noted that unlike the other apartments, this woman had numerous photographs of her with what looked like friends and boyfriends.  She walked into the bedroom, taking note of the photographs that graced the wall and a desk that contained a laptop.  She opened the laptop to see what she could find on the hard drive.

 

Meanwhile, in the living room, Danny was carefully studying the rug around the body.  He noticed a couple of drops of blood, and a few strands of hair, that looked like they’d been pulled out by the roots.  Carefully, he bagged the hands and took a sample of the blood, positive that Adam would be able to pull some DNA from it.

 

After combing through the area around the body, he moved to dusting all the overturned furniture for fingerprints, while Lindsay was going the same thing with the bedroom.

 

**\-------------------------------------------------**

 

Flack knocked patiently on the door directly across from the crime scene.  When the door finally opened, he studied the older man who was looking at him.  “Can I help you?”

 

Flack nodded slightly to him.  “I’m Detective Flack, NYPD,” he said flashing his badge.  “Did you hear anything strange this morning?”

 

The man looked at his badge and then glanced across to see the crime scene tape decorating the door.  “I heard some shouting between the girl that lives there and a man, but that’s not unusual. She was always fighting with her boyfriend,” the man revealed.

 

Flack noted that down before looking up and asking, “Did you see anyone entering or leaving the apartment today?”

 

The man shook his head.  “No, sorry.  I work the night shift and I don’t wake up until around noon.  I heard the shouting but didn’t think anything of it.”

 

Flack nodded his head.  “Thank you for your time, sir.”

 

**\-------------------------------------------------**

 

Back at the lab, Cassie was waiting for an email to be received by doing the crossword puzzle.  She scrunched her nose in frustration.  “What’s a four letter word for chemical ending?” she mused.

 

Adam over heard her question and walked up behind her, studying the crossword puzzle gracing the computer screen.  “Ines,” he replied.

 

Cassie glanced up at him in confusion before she realized that he was answering her question.  “Oh! Thanks!” she replied as she typed in the letters.

 

Just as she got it down, the email pinged with a notification of new mail.  She grinned as she minimized the crossword and pulled up the email.  “We’ve got mail!” she said with a wide smile.

 

“Great!” Adam said as he settled into the chair next to her.  “What does it say?”

 

Cassie refreshed the email and then sighed in defeat.  “It’s just a review for the story, damn.”

 

Adam sighed along with her; he’d been hoping more than she was that Candi had responded back to their flame.  “Oh, well.  We knew that it was possible.  What did it the review say?”

 

Cassie smiled.  “It said, ‘Great job.  I hope to see more from you.’  That’s pretty cool, at least.  I feel accomplished.”

 

Adam snickered.  “But surely, you’ve heard that before.  I did read part of one of your stories and you’re a good writer.”

 

Cassie blushed slightly.  “Thank you.  Yeah, I have heard that before, but I tend to spend more time on my chapters.  I literally just threw this together.  I don’t think it’s my best work.”

 

Adam just shook his head as the email pinged again.  “Now what?  I hope it’s not another review.”

 

Cassie shrugged as she refreshed the screen.  “Nope.  It’s a review reply.”  She clicked on the link and winched as she read the grammar.  “I hope you’re ready to try to trace this.  ‘U bitch!  How dare ya insult my story!  My stories da bomb!  Every1 loves it and u just crazy if ya don’t.  I give ya da finger!”

 

Adam shuddered.  “Dude, she’s gotta be crazy!”

 

Cassie smiled as she clicked to respond to the reply.  “Really?  Everyone loves your story?” she said as she typed.  “I find that hard to believe, unless your readers don’t understand proper English?  You can give me ‘da finger’ as much as you want, but that’s not going to change the fact that I can actually write and you can’t.”  She winked at Adam over her shoulder.  “What do you think of that reply?” she asked him.

 

Adam just laughed.  “That’s great!  But it’s still going to be difficult to track the IP address.”

 

Cassie nodded.  “Maybe we can get her to reveal some information about herself.  Honestly, I don’t think she can be more than a teenager.”

 

A few minutes later, there was another email in the inbox.  Cassie clicked on the private messages and began to read.  “Oh, ya wanna play?  Fine.  I hope you burn just like the flames that you send!  I’m gonna hunt ya down & make sure that you do!”  Cassie’s eyes opened wide.  “Wow, she’s really upset.  Do you think that’s enough to get anything?  Maybe a warrant?”

 

Adam nodded.  “I think it might be, but I’ll have to run it by my boss,” he began as he saw Mac walk by.  “Mac!” he called out.

 

Mac turned and walked into the lab.  “You have something, Adam?”

 

Adam nodded.  “Yeah,” he said before he realized that he should introduce Cassie to him.  “Mac, this is Cassie, she’s a fanfiction writer who is helping us in tracking down our suspect.  Cassie, this is Detective Mac Taylor, my boss.”

 

Cassie nodded as she stuck out her hand.  “Nice to meet you, sir.”

 

Mac smiled.  “Please don’t call me sir. It’s nice to meet you as well.  What’s your news, Adam?”

 

Adam smiled and quickly brought him up to speed.  “So, that’s where we stand,” he finished.  “Do you think that this will be enough to get a warrant?”

 

Mac nodded.  “Probably, especially since another body just turned up.  I’ll make the call.  Thank you both for your hard work.”

 

Adam and Cassie shared a smile as Mac left the room.

 

**\-------------------------------------------------**

 

Danny and Lindsay arrived back at the crime lab to find Adam and Cassie grinning like cats who had gotten into the cream.  Danny raised his eyebrows.  “Ya got something?” he asked.

 

Adam smiled.  “Yeah.  Candi sent a rather inflammatory reply back to one of Cassie’s messages.  It was enough for Mac to get the warrant.  We’re getting access to the servers as we speak.”

 

Danny and Lindsay both grinned.  “That’s good news,” Lindsay said.  “The latest scene was a plethora of evidence and I have another computer for you to look at.”

 

Adam nodded.  “I’m on it.”

 

Cassie stepped back, feeling like she was intruding.  “On that note, my job here is done, so I’ll let y’all catch a killer.”

 

Adam grinned at Cassie.  “Thank you for your help.”

 

Cassie grinned back.  “No problem.  Just catch Monica’s killer,” she said as she walked out of the lab.

 

Adam turned back to see knowing grins on the faces of Danny and Lindsay.  “What?”

 

Danny couldn’t resist teasing the younger man.  “Go after her, Adam!  She’s cute and she’s you’re type.  All nerd like.”

 

Lindsay slapped Danny on the arm.  “Be nice, Messer,” she muttered before turning to Adam.  “Adam, I think she likes you.  What Messer is trying to say is you should ask her out.”

 

Adam blushed, not wanting to reveal that they had already exchanged numbers.  “Whatever.  Anyway, I’m going to get back to getting the server information and I’ll page you if I get anything,” he stuttered before sitting back down at his computer.

 

Lindsay just shook her head and began to make her way to the trace lab.  Danny followed her, shaking his head.  In silence, they began to process the new evidence.

 


	7. A Killer Revealed

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Disclaimer: I am not Anthony Zuiker. I do not own the characters of CSI: NY. I do own anyone you don’t recognize including victims, bad guys and random characters, so don’t steal them! I will put the characters back where I found them, unharmed.
> 
> AN: Here’s the final chapter! Thanks to all who read and reviewed! Many thanks to Aphina (one of my betas) for helping me out with this chapter and for writing the ending of it! My muse didn’t want to let it go!

** Chapter 7.  A Killer Revealed **

 

A few days had passed since the latest victim had been discovered.  Sid had confirmed that she had been killed in the same manner as the rest of the victims.  Danny and Lindsay had processed most of the evidence, but they were still waiting on the DNA results.

 

Adam, on the other hand, was having more luck.  After going through the server information, he had finally tracked down the email address of CandiLovesWilliamTheBloody.  He nodded as Flack, Lindsay and Danny walked into the room, in response to his page.

 

“You got something?” Flack asked.

 

Adam nodded.  “Yeah.  Your killer is not CandiLovesWilliamTheBloody.  Candi is really Candace Jacobs, a fifteen year old high school student from Independence, Kansas.  By the way, who is now very scared since the cops showed up on her doorstep.  Hopefully, it will improve her responses to reviews, if not her writing.”

 

All three shook their heads in resignation.  “So where does that leave us?” Flack asked.  “What about the evidence from the last scene?”

 

Lindsay sighed.  “Well, we are still waiting on the DNA evidence, but none of the fingerprints matched anything in AFIS.  The vic was killed in the same manner as the rest of the victims.”

 

Danny nodded.  “We’ve got the evidence, but no suspect now.  In my gut, I know that this is tied to fanfiction somehow!”

 

Adam nodded.  “That’s why I called you guys here.  I discovered another story that these authors have in common.  The author’s penname is Willow’sDarkSide, but nothing has been posted onto the site in close to a year.  None of the murdered girl’s reviews were truly bad, most of them offered constructive criticism and Monica actually offered to proofread the story for the author after the last chapter was posted, but no response.”

 

Flack looked hopeful at his comment.  “Do you have a name?”

 

Adam nodded in remorse.  “Not yet.  I’m still working on it.”

 

Flack nodded.  “Okay.  Let me know what you find,” he said just as Danny and Lindsay’s pagers beeped.

 

Both glanced down at it and then at each other.  “DNA’s back,” they uttered together.  Smiling, the three of them left the AV lab and headed to DNA.  When they arrived, they found Kendall grinning widely. 

 

“Ya got something?” Danny asked.

 

Kendall smirked.  “Got the DNA profile back.  Much to my surprise, considering your suspicions about the killer being female, both the hair and the blood was from a male.  No match in CODIS, but I did some more digging and it turns out that there is a partial match in CODIS.”  Kendall stopped their, obviously teasing them.

 

Lindsay raised an eyebrow.  “All right, you’ve got our attention.  What did you find?”

 

Kendall turned and pulled up a mug shot on the computer.  “This is Jason Hightower.  He is currently serving a twenty year sentence in Riker’s for rape of a minor.  His DNA is a paternal match for our suspect.”  She clicked another couple of keys and pulled up a driver’s license photo.  “This is Andrew Hightower, his son.  This is who I suspect the DNA belongs to.  Without a sample of his DNA, though, this is all speculation,” she concluded.

 

Danny and Lindsay looked at Flack.  “We need to find him,” Danny stated. 

 

Flack nodded his agreement.  “I’m on it,” he said as he turned to leave, only to see Adam rushing towards them.

 

“I found out who Willow’sDarkSide is!” he exclaimed.  He continued when the rest of the group looked at him.  “It belongs to a local girl from Queens.  Her name is Tara Hightower.”

 

Flack looked at him.  “Hightower?” he asked in shock.

 

Lindsay quickly sat down that the computer and being to search the records.  “Jason Hightower does have a daughter named Tara,” she paused.  “Or, should I say, did have a daughter.  It looks like she committed suicide about a year ago.”

 

Flack looked at her.  “Did the crime lab process the scene?”

 

Lindsay nodded and pulled up the computer records.  “Yeah.  It looks clean.  Sid’s the one who did the autopsy.  She slit her wrists.”  She grew quiet as she read the report from the other shift.  “The other shift said that there was a suicide note that indicated that she was tired of being harassed.  But nothing more than that.”

 

Flack furrowed his brow, obviously thinking about the situation.  “Okay, so let’s just say that the daughter, Tara, kills herself over bad reviews, so the brother is killing those who made the reviews?  A year later?  That just doesn’t make sense.”

 

Adam cleared his throat.  “Actually, it makes a lot of sense.  It probably took him a lot of time to track these women down.  Look how much time it took us to track two people down and we have a lot more resources available.”  He shrugged.  “Now that I think about it, he may have been targeting these women through fanfiction.  I remember seeing reviews for each of them, excluding Samantha Miller, from a person with the penname of Tara’sAvengingAngel.  At first, I thought it was referencing Tara on the show, but now maybe not.”

 

Flack shook his head.  “What ever the cause is, we have plenty of reason to pull him in for questioning.”  He looked at Danny.  “Wanna come with me when I track him down?”

 

“You have to ask, man?” Danny shot right back with a grin.   “Let’s go.”  Both of them left the lab on their way back to the pit so they could find a current address on Andrew Hightower.

 

**(BREAK)**

 

Within an hour of leaving the lab, Flack and Danny were walking up the front porch of the brownstone in Queens.  When they got to the door, Flack knocked loudly.  “Andrew Hightower, NYPD!  Open up!” he yelled through the door.

 

Both of them heard the sound of scrambling and looked at each other before running around the side of the house.  “Why do they always run?!” Flack yelled as his long legs kept him ahead of Danny.

 

“Because they’re stupid!” Danny yelled back as they burst through the chain-link fence, only to see someone scrambling over the fence.  Danny slid to a stop before running back the way he came, intent on cutting off the man’s escape.

 

Flack ploughed forward, easily hopping over the fence before putting on a burst of speed to narrow the gap between them.  The suspect rounded a corner, to take himself into the cover of the pedestrian traffic.  Flack growled as his breaths began to come in pants.

 

He skidded around the corner, just as Danny screeched to a halt, jumping out of the car and tackling the man to the ground.  The man thrashed around before Danny wrenched his arm behind him.  “Stop it,” Danny said harshly, slapping the cuffs on his wrists.

 

Flack came to a halt just as Danny hauled the man to his feet.  “Ya know, we could have just wanted to talk,” he said with sarcasm dripping from his voice.

 

“Like I haven’t heard that before,” the man sneered.

 

Flack just shook his head.  “Are you Andrew Hightower?”

 

The man just stared at him in silence as Danny loaded him into the back of the car.

 

**(BREAK)**

 

Lindsay met Danny and Flack outside of the interrogation room.  “Hey guys.  I’ve got some news for you.  Adam did a little more digging on Tara and we found something interesting.”

 

Flack looked at Lindsay.  “What did you find?”

 

Lindsay sighed, looking very disturbed.  “She had a couple of websites that she subscribed too; they were referenced on her MySpace page.  All of them had to do with rape and one of them was a counseling service for victims of molestation.”

 

Danny looked at Lindsay, clearly trying to put the pieces together.  “So where does that leave us?”

 

Lindsay just looked at him, biting on her bottom lip.  “I believe that her father was molesting her.  If that’s true, then that could be the real reason she killed herself.  But, I checked the hospital reports and all of the physical evidence that was present when she was found dead, and there wasn’t anything concrete.  Sid did the autopsy and did find that she was sexually active, but there was not evidence that she’d had sex within a couple of hours before her death.  No hospital reports, nothing from her school about possible abuse.”

 

Flack shook his head in disgust as he grabbed the folder out of Lindsay’s hands.  “Let’s go catch a killer,” he said as he and Danny walked into the room. 

 

Lindsay watched them enter, but decided not to stay and watch the interrogation; some questions she just didn’t need to know the answer to.

 

“So, Andrew,” Flack began.  “Do you know why you’re here?”

 

“Because you cops haven’t got anything better to do?” Andrew shot back.

 

“Nope, wrong answer,” Flack said as he threw the folder on the table.  “But thanks for playing.” 

 

Danny sat down across from Andrew and withdrew a photograph of the latest victim out of the folder.  “Do you know this woman?” he asked calmly.

 

Andrew glanced at the photo.  “Nope.  Never seen her before.  Who is she?”

 

“Angela Perkins and your DNA was found at the crime scene.  How do you explain that?”

 

Andrew just shrugged his shoulders.

 

“Well, then let me explain,” Danny said as he withdrew more photos, this time of the other charred victims.  “You see, you killed these women and your DNA just confirms it.”

 

“Maybe, if you come clean, we won’t pursue the death penalty.”

 

Andrew just looked at them belligerently.  “I ain’t saying nothing.”

 

Flack just looked at him.  “Fine.  I’ll do the talking for you.  You stalked these women because they all gave critical reviews to your sister’s story.  You think that’s why she killed herself.”

 

Andrew just seemed to snap at that moment.  “They deserved it!  If it wasn’t for them then Tara would still be alive and my family would not be in shambles!” he erupted.  “Their reviews knocked her down, so yeah, they deserved to die!”

 

Danny jumped in.  “So what, you thought you’d set them afire because they ‘flamed’ your sister?  Why take justice into your own hands?”

 

“Because when Tara killed herself it broke my dad!  If that hadn’t happened then he never would have gotten arrested.”

 

Danny looked at him, barely hiding the obvious repulsion at the mention of the dad.  “Really?  Why was he so brokenhearted at her death?  What was their relationship like?”

 

Andrew looked confused at the change of topic.  “Dad and Tara were very close.  He always called her his little Princess, especially after Mom died.  Tara looked a lot like Mom and that seemed to bring them closer.”

 

Flack looked at him.  “When did your mother die?”

 

“Tara was six and I was twelve.  I remember that Dad seemed really broken after the funeral, but we were never close.  I escaped from the pain by participating in sports at school and hanging around with the jocks.  But Tara was so young that she didn’t understand why Mom was gone.  Dad was the one that had to explain all that to her.  As a result, they grew really close.”  Andrew glared at the two men.  “So, when she killed herself, he was extremely upset.”

 

Flack raised his eyebrows, going in for the kill.  “Really?  Didn’t it seem strange to you that after your sister died, you father went out and raped a child who looked a lot like her?”

 

Andrew seemed shocked at Flack’s accusation.  “What?”

 

Flack continued, “You see, we did a little more digging after we found your DNA.  For instance, did you know that your sister was a member of several rape counseling websites or a victims of molestation website?”

 

Andrew looked outwardly shocked, but both Danny and Flack saw something flash in his eyes; a flicker of confirmation.  “No, that’s not possible.  Dad never abused either of us,” he retorted, trying to sound convincing.

 

“Now, why don’t I believe that?” Flack snarled.  “You sat back and ignored the fact that your sister—Your Sister!—was being molested by your dad.  You turned a blind eye to what was going on.”

 

“NO!  That’s not true!” Andrew yelled, jumping to his feet.

 

“Sit down,” Flack said in a menacing voice.  “It is true, isn’t it?  You’ve built yourself a nice little fantasy here.  Does that justify killing four innocent women?”  Flack shook his head.  “What I don’t understand is why you killed Samantha Miller?  She wasn’t even registered with the fanfiction website and never reviewed your sister’s story.”

 

Andrew sat back down; feeling like his world was crumbling around him.  “She saw me.  That first one, I followed her into a club and confronted her, the other chick saw me.  She could identify me.”

 

Flack shook his head. “Four women dead because you refused to see what was in front of you and jumped to the wrong conclusion.  Did you even care what was going on with your sister?” he muttered as he shoved a notepad in front of him.  “You want to write down a confession?”

 

Andrew nodded, looking defeated as he began to write down his confession.

 

Danny and Flack sat silently, each feeling their stomach’s rolling at the thought of what was going on in that house; wondering when the cycle of abuse had started.  Thirty minutes later, they were walking out of the lab, disbelief still clouding their minds.

 

**(BREAK)**

 

Flack pushed open the door to the tiny Irish bar around the corner from the station house. The day had been tough on them all. As Danny slipped past him, he noticed the slump in the other man’s shoulders and the deep-set tiredness in his face. They were both settled on bar stools, each nursing a beer before Danny broke the comfortable silence between them.

 

“I just can’t believe that one person could wreck so many lives,” he stated taking a swig of his beer, before wiping his mouth with the back of his hand.

 

Flack nodded his response, his fingers toying with the label on the bottle in front of him.

“It’s cause and effect, Danny.  If the old man had been able to keep his hands off the daughter none of this would have happened. But it did and four women are dead because some asshole made a mistake.” Flack shook his head before taking a swig of his own beer and wincing as the liquid ran down his throat.

 

“It’s a complete waste, but the world keeps on turning and this time tomorrow, we’ll be at another crime scene doing what we do best,” Flack finished.

 

“Here’s to catching the killers and protecting the innocent ones,” Danny toasted quietly, clinking his bottle against Flack’s.

 

“Ain’t that why we do what we do?” Flack pointed out with a tiny smile before the two

men fell into silence.

 

“I’m telling you you’re gifted Cassie.  Your writing is amazing; you should write normal fiction and try get some of it published because seriously, I think you’d make a mint, be the next J K Rowling or something,” the voice carried over the quiet bar from one of the booths.

 

Danny and Flack paused, their beers clenched in their hands mid-sip before glancing at each other in disbelief.

 

They both turned in their stools at the same time to the sound of the familiar voice now giggling at something his companion had said.

 

In front of them sat Adam Ross and Cassie Jones, sharing a pitcher in the intimately lit booth across from them.

 

“You have got to be kidding me,” Danny muttered his beer still halfway to his mouth.

Adam was leaning into Cassie smiling as she listened intently as he spoke excitedly.

“Wow, who would have thought Adam had game,” Danny responded as him and Flack both returned back to their original position, facing the bar.

 

“Something good had to come of all this. A little nerd love is as good as it gets,” Flack remarked the corners of his mouth twitching as a huge grin spread across Danny’s face.

Danny clinked his bottle against Flack’s smirking before toasting.

 

“To nerd love.”

 

_Fini_


End file.
